SUPREME COURT of INDIA Page 1 of 8 PETITIONER: SHEELA BARSE Vs. RESPONDENT: STATE of MAHARASHTRA DATE OF

http://JUDIS.NIC.IN SUPREME COURT OF INDIA Page 1 of 8 PETITIONER: SHEELA BARSE Vs. RESPONDENT: STATE OF MAHARASHTRA DATE OF JUDGMENT18/09/1987 BENCH: MISRA RANGNATH BENCH: MISRA RANGNATH DUTT, M.M. (J) CITATION: JT 1988 (3) 15 ACT: Permission to journalists to interview prisoners and tape-record the interviews, guarantees under Articles 19(1)(a) and 21-Benefits thereof for all the citizens. HEADNOTE: Sheela Barse, a free lance journalist, sought permission to interview the female prisoners in the Maharashtra State Jails. The permission was granted by the Inspector-General of Prisons. As, how ever, the journalist started tape-recording her interviews with the prisoners, the permission to interview was withdrawn. Feeling aggrieved by the cancellation of the permission, the journalist moved this Court in its writ jurisdiction on the ground that a citizen has a right to know under Articles 19(1)(a) and 21 of the Constitution, if the Government is administering the jails in accordance with law, and that the Press has a special responsibility to collect information on public issues to educate the people. The permission in question was cancelled, as stated by the Inspector-General of Prisons in his counter-affidavit to the Writ Petition, on the ground inter alia that the permission had been granted to the petitioner in contravention of the Maharashtra Prison Manual and the rules made thereunder, which govern the interviews with the prisoners; the petitioner, an amateur free lance journalist not employed by any responsible newspaper, was not covered by the said rules. The respondent also contended that the Articles of the Constitution referred to by the petitioner were not attracted to the case. Disposing of the Writ Petition, the Court, ^ HELD: The term 'life' in Article 21 covers the living conditions of the prisoners, prevailing in the jails. The prisoners are also entitled to the benefit of the guarantees provided in the Article subject to reason able restrictions. It is necessary that public gaze should be permitted on the prisoners, and the pressmen as friends of the society and public spirited citizens should have access to information about, and interviews with, the prisoners. But such access has to be controlled and regulated. The petitioner is not entitled to uncontrolled interviews. The factual information collected as a result of the interviews should usually be 211 http://JUDIS.NIC.IN SUPREME COURT OF INDIA Page 2 of 8 cross-checked with the authorities, so that a wrong picture of a situation may not be published. Disclosure of correct information is necessary, but there is to be no dissemination of wrong information. Persons, who get permission to interview have to abide by reasonable restrictions. As for tape-recording the interviews, there may be cases where such tape-recording is necessary, but tape-recording is to be subject to special permission of the appropriate authority. There may be some individuals or class of persons in the prisons with whom interviews may not be permitted for reasons indicated by this Court in Prabha Dutt v. Union of India & ors., [1982] 1 S.C.R. 1184. The interviews cannot be forced upon anyone and willingness of the prisoners to be interviewed is always to be insisted upon. There may also be certain other cases, where, for good reasons, permission to interview the prisoners may be withheld, which situations can be considered as and when they arise. [215C; 217F; 218B, E-H; 219A-B] The petitioner can make a fresh application for permission to interview the prisoners, which is to be dealt with in accordance with the guidelines laid down hereinabove. [219B] Prabha Dutt v. Union of India & ors., [1982] 1 S.C.R. 1184; Sunil Batra v. Delhi Administrator, [1979] 1 S.C.R. 392 and Francis Coralie Mulin v. Administrator, Union Territory of Delhi and ors., [19811 1 S.C.C. 608, referred to. JUDGMENT: ORIGINAL JURISDICTlON: Writ Petition No. 1053 of 1982. (Under Article 32 of the Constitution of India). Suleman Khurshid and K.K. Luthra for the Petitioner. S.B. Bhasme, A.M. Khanwilkar and A.S. Bhasme for the Respondent. L.R. Singh for the Intervener. The Judgment of the Court was delivered by RANGANATH MISRA, J. Petitioner is a Bombay-based free lance journalist who had sought permission to interview women prisoners in the Maharashtra jails and on 6.5.1982, the Inspector-General of Prisons of the State permitted her to do so in respect of female prisoners lodged in the Bombay Central Jail, the Yerawada Central Jail at Pune and the Kolhapur District Jail. When the petitioner started 212 tape-recording her interviews with the prisoners at the Bombay Central Jail, she was advised instead to keep notes only of interviews. When the petitioner raised objection on this score, the Inspector-General of Prisons orally indicated that he had changed his mind. Later, the petitioner was informed that grant of permission to have interview was a matter of discretion of the Inspector- General and such interviews are ordinarily allowed to research scholars only. Petitioner has made grievance over the withdrawal of the permission and has pleaded that it is the citizen's right to know if Government is administering the jails in accordance with law. Petitioner's letter was treated as a writ petition under Article 32 of the Constitution. Return has been made to the rule nisi and the Inspector-General of Prisons in his affidavit has pleaded that the petitioner is a free lance journalist and is not employed by any responsible newspaper. The permission issued in favour of the petitioner was under administrative http://JUDIS.NIC.IN SUPREME COURT OF INDIA Page 3 of 8 misunderstanding and mistaken belief and was in contravention of the Maharashtra Prison Manual. When this fact was discovered the permission was withdrawn. It has been pleaded that interview with prisoners is governed by the rules made in the Maharashtra Prison Manual and the petitioner does not satisfy the prescription therein so as to justify grant of permission for having interviews with prisoners. The Inspector-General wrote a letter to the petitioner on 31st May, 1982, explaining therein that normally the prison authorities do not allow interviews with the prisoners unless the person seeking interview is a research scholar studying for Ph. D. Or intends to visit the prison as a part of his field work of curriculum prescribed for post graduate course etc. The letter further indicated that there was no rules for permitting interviews except to the relatives and legal advisers for facilitating defence of prisoners. The Inspector-General further indicated in his letter that there was no inherent right of journalists to elicit information from prisoners. The counter affidavit further indicated that the State Government has prescribed a set of rules known as the Maharashtra Visitors of Prisons Rules, 1962. A Board of Visitors is constituted for every jail and the Board consists of both ex-officio visitors and non-official visitors appointed by the State Government. The members of the Board are expected to inspect the barracks, cell wards, work sheds and other buildings; ascertain or make enquiries about the health, cleanliness, security of prisoners and examine registers of convicted and under trial prisoners, punishment books, other records relating to prisoners, attend to representations, objections etc. made by prisoners, make 213 entries in the visitors' book abou their visits. It was finally indicated in A the counter affidavit that the petitioner was an amateur journalist and had published 'certain articles in the newspapers and magazines without realising the impact thereof; many of such allegations and the so-called hearsay stories said to have been collected from the under trials were one-sided and nothing but exaggeration of facts. Such articles written by her were defamatory, irresponsible and no mature journalist would have published such reckless articles. We have heard Mr. Salman Khurshid Ahmed for the petitioner and Mr. Bhasme for the State of Maharashtra and have considered the written submissions filed on behalf of both in furtherance of their submissions. According to the petitioner and her counsel Articles 19(1)(a) and 21 guarantee to every citizen reasonable access to information about the institutions that formulate, enact, implement and enforce the laws of the land. Every citizen has a right to receive such information through public institutions including the media as it is physically impossible for every citizen to be informed about all issues of public importance individually and personally. As a journalist, the petitioner has a right to collect and disseminate information to citizens. The press has a special responsibility in educating citizens at large on every public issue. The conditions prevailing in the Indian prisons where both under trial persons and convicted prisoners are housed is directly connected with Article 21 of the Constitution. It is the obligation of Society to ensure that appropriate standards are maintained in the jails and humane conditions prevail therein. In a participatory democracy as ours unless access is provided to http://JUDIS.NIC.IN SUPREME COURT OF INDIA Page 4 of 8 the citizens and the media in particular it would not be feasible to improve the conditions of the jails and maintain the quality of the environment in which a section of the population is housed segregated from the rest of community. On behalf of the State it has been contended that neither of the Articles is attracted to a matter of this type. The rules made by the Government are intended to safeguard the interests of the prisoners. The Board contemplated under the Rules consists of several public officers both executive and judicial. Apart from that there is a body of non-official visitors as provided in Rule 5 of the Maharashtra Rules.

Load more